Xenoblade Chronicles 2 will be getting a new major patch next week between February 12 and 16, 2018. Details of the new patch were revealed by Monolith Soft director Tetsuya Takahashi on the official website.
The first anticipated feature in the 1.3.0 patch will be a New Game Plus mode, or “Advanced New Game Mode,” as it is called. However, several new specifications have been added. Players will want to know everything that carries over into the Advanced New Game Mode. That includes the player’s Driver level, Driver and Blade equipment and growth elements, Awakened Blades, acquired items and gold, town development degree and Mercenaries level, and last but not least, Event theater contents and Unique Monster kills. Some features like quests, Heart-to-Hearts, Skip Travel points and cleared Mercenary Missions will be reset.
There will be mild spoilers for players who have not completed the game. In Advanced New Game Mode, it is possible for players to befriend Blades on Torna’s side as player Blades such as Obrona, Sever, Perdido, and Cressidus, as well as befriend Akhos, Patroka, and Mikhail from Torna.
All Blade Mercenaries can now be dispatched, even Blades like Pyra and Mythra. Additionally, Drivers will have a “Reverse Affinity Chart” unlocked, making it possible for further growth. Players can also decrease a Driver’s level at inns, earning bonus experience points which can be used to exchange for items that can increase the number of equipped Driver accessories. Finally, an unspecified Blade’s Level 4 special move will be unlocked.
Other minor features that will also apply to first playthroughs include a new system to lock awakened Blades to avoid accidental release, an option to skip cutscenes for Blade awakenings, displaying each icon set on the Skip Travel screen when the mini-map is enlarged, an Easy Mode and new sorting options added to Accessories, Assist Cores and Blade List amongst others. Purchasers of the Expansion Pass will also receive the “Helpful Items Pack 4.”
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch on December 1, 2017. It is an action-RPG and part of the Xeno game franchise. We gave it a rating of 4.5 out of 5 in our review, which you can check out here.
